Tennis United: Rublev & Sabalenka On Match-Day Mentality
If you want to have success on Tour, where the competition is greater than ever, your mentality and pre-match preparation needs to be just right.
Russia’s Andrey Rublev and WTA star Aryna Sabalenka discuss as they sit down to discuss what happens in the locker room, from their routines to how they handle pressure in the latest episode of Tennis United: Crosscourt.
“All of us are humans, of course, we are nervous and we are tight,” Rublev said. “The hands are shaking. This is part of the sport and I think we get addicted to it. In the beginning, while we are playing I think we hate this feeling, but if you take this feeling away from us, we are addicted, we want to feel these emotions.”
On dealing with defeat, Sabalenka said: “By the time I get back to the room, I am a little bit cooler. But I can cry in the locker room and be so disappointed and sad with all of these emotions.”
Rublev and Sabalenka also discuss what goes on behind the scenes before the match, with the World No. 5 revealing how he is superstitious and struggles to stay off his phone.
The ATP and WTA are teaming again in 2021 for Tennis United: CrossCourt, a continuation of the award-winning digital content series originally released during the 2020 suspended season. The reimagined project marks the first major co-branded initiative to debut since the two Tours integrated marketing operations earlier this year.
Tennis United: CrossCourt goes behind the scenes of life on Tour through a series of intimate one-on-one conversations between ATP and WTA stars. Spanning eight short-format episodes, players explore a range of largely untouched subjects from within and beyond sport, offering fans a raw perspective on the experiences, pressures and privileges that make up life in professional tennis.
The complete episode list:
• Episode 1: Relationships (Gael Monfils & Elina Svitolina)
• Episode 2: Coaching (Felix Auger-Aliassime & Jennifer Brady)
• Episode 3: Doubles (Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Jamie Murray)
• Episode 4: Parenthood (Fabio Fognini & Elena Vesnina)
• Episode 5: Travel (Grigor Dimitrov & Belinda Bencic)
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